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Watson keen to bowl again but not v India

Greg Buckle

Shane Watson found it tough to watch India pile on 572 runs in their first innings of the Chennai Test but the star allrounder is determined to stick to his guns and not bowl in the series.

Watson pulled out of January's Sydney Test against Sri Lanka with a calf injury and is playing the four-Test tour of India as a batman only, scoring 28 and 17 in Australia's eight-wicket loss in the first Test this week.

The seam-bowling allrounder says it was a test of his resolve to see Indian captain MS Dhoni club 224 off 265 balls.

"I've got a lot of experience of bowling to him in all conditions and all formats. I felt like I'd have had a good chance of being able to try and do something anyway," the two-time Allan Border Medallist told reporters on Thursday.

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"That's what I do love about being an allrounder is feeling like you can have some impact on the game with bat and ball at a time when it feels like the game is starting to slip out of the position that we were in.

"That thought has gone through my mind a few times but I suppose we do have to stay on course.

"I've needed two or three months just to be able to get some conditioning into my body, to then hopefully hold together for the next period of time once I get back bowling again.

"That was a time (during India's first innings) that reaffirmed to me that I do want to bowl.

"I suppose it was moreso the times where I felt I could have some impact on the game if I was bowling, just the times where I have experience bowling in these conditions.

"That was a time where, if I hadn't have made the decision not to bowl for this tour, that I could have had some input on the game at a crucial time in the match.

"That to me was the first time over the last month I've had since I came back playing that I missed bowling.

"It certainly reaffirmed to me that I'm never going to give up bowling."

Watson says he has been offered plenty of advice and has consulted with his personal physio Victor Popov, team physio Alex Kountouris and captain Michael Clarke.

"(I want) to get some running into my legs to continue to build that resilience so I can hopefully just stay together," the 31-year-old, 39-Test player said.

Although Moises Henriques made a fine debut as a seam-bowling allrounder in Chennai, Australia's lacked firepower and took only 12 wickets.

Selectors are considering recalling back-up spinner Xavier Doherty for the second Test starting in Hyderabad on Saturday.

Paceman Mitchell Starc is under pressure after a wicketless Test while offspinner Nathan Lyon looks tired, according to former captain Steve Waugh.